Abstract
This article highlights various paradoxes and false dichotomies in rural education research. Using Paulo Freire's theories of oppression and critical awareness, the article delineates a theoretical framework designed to explore a reframing of rural education. We propose that this reframing would serve as rural praxis for school leaders and teachers, and we make use of these theories to discuss school leader and teacher preparation programs. This reframing for the field of rural education research proposes a way through contradictions and dispels deficit narratives underlying conceptions of rurality and theoretical constructs in rural education research.
Highlights
Last August, at the International Symposium for Innovation in Rural Education (ISFIRE), we presented to colleagues from around the world about deficit ideology and the role it plays in perceptions of rurality
It was a full room of maybe 50 people – researchers from Australia, Canada, and the United States of America (USA); rural superintendents – a few from remote districts with one-room schools; teachers in rural communities; education policy experts; advocates from non-profit organizations; and a robust and earnest group of doctoral students in rural education
How might we explore challenges in rural education without creating this inauthentic, alienating chatter? How can we explore the dichotomies imposed on rural elements we have come to take for granted? Coal, rural poverty, and the opioid epidemic are palpable issues in Appalachia
Summary
This article highlights various paradoxes and false dichotomies in rural education research. Using Paulo Freire's theories of oppression and critical awareness, the article delineates a theoretical framework designed to explore a reframing of rural education. We propose that this reframing would serve as rural praxis for school leaders and teachers, and we make use of these theories to discuss school leader and teacher preparation programs. This reframing for the field of rural education research proposes a way through contradictions and dispels deficit narratives underlying conceptions of rurality and theoretical constructs in rural education research
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